Home>News Center>China
       
 

Lunar satellite to be launched in 2007
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-26 00:29

The first lunar satellite of China will be launched during a fly-by mission in 2007, scientists and officials said Thursday in Beijing.

The move is seen as a key step for the country to start outer space exploration.

"As a spacefaring nation, it is time for China to initiate outer space probing centering on moon exploration now that we've launched manmade satellites and made breakthroughs in manned spaceflight," said Luan Enjie, director of China National Space Administration.

Luan, also chief commander of China's lunar orbiting programme, made the remark at a meeting to co-ordinate the work of the lunar orbiter launch and tracking systems, ground applications and carrier-rocket systems.

The programme is dubbed "Chang'e project," and the first lunar orbiter is named "Chang'e-I," referring to an ancient Chinese legend about the fairy Chang'e who flies to the moon.

With funding of 1.4 billion yuan (US$169 million), the orbiter, based on China's Dongfanghong III satellite platform and other mature satellite technology, will be launched atop a Long March 3-A rocket, according to Sun Laiyan, another leading space official.

Lunar probes are always a subject of great interest, given the Earth's nearest neighbour probably holds the key to humanity's future subsistence and development, experts said.

The moon contains various special resources for humanity to develop and use, Luan said. The moon will provide a good platform from which to explore outward at longer distances.

He said China's unmanned fly-by mission will obtain three-dimensional images of the lunar surface and analyze the content and distribution of useful elements on the moon's surface, measure the density of lunar soil and explore the environment between the moon and Earth.

"The achievements of China's first lunar exploration will surely provide useful new information for humanity's moon research and resources investigation," Luan said.

Although China has accumulated some expertise and experience in space activities, lunar exploration is a challenging and arduous task, said Sun Jiadong, chief architect of the lunar probe project.

"It is not just that we are sending a satellite farther away than we did in the past," Sun said. "We've got to work out every single problem regarding satellite, rocket and tracking systems."

To send the orbiter to circle the moon, which is on average more than 384,000 kilometres away from the Earth, Chinese scientists will have to readjust the speed of the orbiter many times after it blasts off, said Ye Peijian, chief designer of the project's satellite system.

Following the fly-by project, China will proceed to soft-land an unmanned vehicle on the moon and then to scoop up lunar samples for return to Earth, according to Luan.

The fly-by, landing and returning phases are expected to be completed in 20 years, Luan said.

The world has seen the second upsurge of lunar exploration since late 1990s, following the first round in 1950s, according to Luan.

United States astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Earlier this year, the US announced that it planed to "return to the moon."

 
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

Seven Diaoyu activists on way home

 

   
 

Beijing voices concern over unrest in Taiwan

 

   
 

Lenovo joins Olympic sponsors' club

 

   
 

NPC to explain Basic Law clauses

 

   
 

Boom of after-school education in China

 

   
 

Chinese workers win compensation suit

 

   
  AIDs, HIV test free for pregnant women
   
  Taiwan "election" protesters keep vigil
   
  China refutes US censure on human rights
   
  Improving minimum living subsidy mechanism
   
  Book exposes Japan biowar program in China
   
  Inner Mongolia quake injures 100
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Long March III A chosen for lunar mission
   
Moon fly-by to soar by 2007
   
China jump-starts lunar project of US$170m
   
China starting work on lunar probe
   
China eyes experiments for moon mission
  News Talk  
  Are the Chen-Lu shootings a fabricated hoax or an amateurish bungling  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 免费观看一级欧美在线视频| 国产精品20p| 中文字幕在线第二页| 最近中国日本免费观看| 亚洲爆乳少妇无码激情| 精品三级久久久久电影网1| 国产一级性生活片| 高铁上要了很多次| 国产精品丝袜久久久久久不卡| 亚洲区小说区激情区图片区| A毛片毛片看免费| 亚洲制服丝袜第一页| 成人动漫在线视频| 久久男人av资源网站无码软件| 精品亚洲欧美无人区乱码| 国产剧情在线视频| uyghur69sexvideos| 推拿电影完整未删减版资源| 久久精品一区二区三区中文字幕| 熟妇人妻不卡中文字幕| 又爽又刺激的视频| 色偷偷91久久综合噜噜噜| 国产免费色视频| 黑巨人与欧美精品一区| 国产真实伦在线观看| 在线免费视频你懂的| 国产精品网址你懂的| 97人伦影院a级毛片| 在线看三级aaa| 99国内精品久久久久久久| 天天躁夜夜躁狠狠躁2021| 一区二区三区在线免费| 怡红院怡春院首页| 一级毛片特级毛片国产| 成人欧美一区二区三区视频| 中文字幕在线观看亚洲日韩| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区五十路百度| 五月婷婷伊人网| 极品丝袜乱系列在线阅读| 亚洲一区二区观看播放| 欧美一卡2卡3卡4卡免费|